 Good evening and welcome to the Runlet and Baldachi Report. The first thing I want to mention is the passing of Henry Kissinger, 100 years old. My old partner, Ken Alsula, his daughter Amy, gave me a personal autograph from Henry Kissinger, which I will cherish. And speaking of great statesmen, we have one with us today. It comes from a royal family, a royal family from the United States whose name is among the most recognized in world history. And in our quest to bring you the best public servants that we have, we have a person right now who is doing a public service to this country and Northern Ireland. Rob Baldachi, once again, has delivered a huge figure for us. His royalty not because of his birth, but because of the accomplishments of his family. Ladies and gentlemen, we have Joe Kennedy. Rob, go ahead. Joe, congressman, former congressman. It's great to see you again. And thanks for taking the time today to talk about your new role as a special envoy to Northern Ireland. So our families do go back. I mentioned earlier my dad worked with Joe's great uncle, President Kennedy. We've worked with Bobby and Teddy, and I was a delegate for Teddy in 1980, New York. And Joe's dad was in Congress with my brother, John. And we became very good friends over the years and continue to do so. So, Joe, it's great to see you again. Tell us a little bit about your role in Northern Ireland and some of the issues that you're facing right now, Joe. Thank you so much for having me. It is an absolute honor and a pleasure for me to be with you both. And Mr. Baldachi, let me just say to you personally, I have been grateful for your friendship, that of your entire family over the course of my life in public service. You couldn't have better friends and friends of our family than you all have. Thank you, Joe. I appreciate this. Not just for the support for us, but the example that you and your family continue to set for public service for the people of Maine and our country. And an example for all of us to emulate. So thank you for that. I'm grateful for it. And grateful for the invitation here to be able to join you and engage in this discussion. I've had the honor of serving for the past nearly a year now as President Biden's Special Envoy for Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs. And it's been an extraordinary honor for me. I will say you all are familiar with this role because of a very famous mayor that held a person to hold it and a relative of yours and Senator, a former majority leader, George Mitchell. And I got to say, I don't think the senator intended this, but when you do what he did as the first person's position, he set the bar pretty high for the rest of us to try to emulate. So you got high expectations to try to meet here. And I got to say, Mr. Baldacci, the example that he set is not just the yardstick by which all of us will be measured by. It's one that thinks in large part to his work, but the work that he helped create and create the space to create for the people of Northern Ireland, it's one that thankfully we don't have to replicate because of the patience, the leadership, the commitment that he showed. And by the way, extraordinary sacrifice to himself personally and out of his family, given the times, the amount of time that he spent in Northern Ireland, rather than at home and with a young family. But what he was able to do, the credibility that he brought to that process, the trust that he was able to earn, and he did earn it, is still palpable today across the streets and communities in Northern Ireland. And I want to begin that way because I think it's a great example in public service of how each one of us, to some extent, stands on the shoulders of those who went before, and what incredible shoulders Senator Mitchell has in the framework that he created for those of us to carry on this work, seek to continue. But because of his work and because of the example that he set, he did and was able to help navigate some of the thorniest and trickiest and most difficult issues and gaps of trust that we've seen at that time, almost anywhere on the planet. And so I come into this space being able to point to that record of success across the board, not on a partisan basis, but of one that says a deep commitment to the people of Northern Ireland, to great friends in Northern Ireland, to friends in the United Kingdom, friends in the Republic of Ireland, and with an effort to say, look, we come at this with no partisan agenda, just to try to continue to promote peace, prosperity, and stability of Northern Ireland from a position of friendship and kinship. And that provides you an awful lot of space and an awful lot of latitude when you come out of that way. Joe, thank you for that and your connection to George Mitchell. But just how important is it that you are a Kennedy? And we all know about your heritage to Ireland. How big is it that you're a Kennedy when you go over there? How much does it help? Sir, it's a good question. It's one that's a little bit difficult for me to answer because from my perspective, it's who I am. And so I wouldn't be who I am without question. I think that there's particularly when it comes to some of the issues and legacy issues in Northern Ireland where you've got a long history of challenges and a community that is trying very hard to work through these histories of differences and conflict, not just around religious grounds, but nationality, definition, identity, et cetera, that it is easy to be able to be labeled and put in a certain category, put in a bucket of, oh, as a member of a Kennedy family, you're an Irish family. And that's going to be interested in necessarily the perspective of unionism in Northern Ireland. For my entire life, I've had to navigate the way in which people will perceive me because of the way in which they might have viewed correctly or incorrectly activities of some of my family members. That's not wholly new, but I will say, and I don't want to kind of overstate this, but it's where, gentlemen, the impact of Senator Mitchell I think has been so critical here because I came into this position not in a position of one that was looked at skeptically by one side or the other. Well said. Not in one that looked at was, hey, this is a democratic position of a Democrat or Republican from American politics or a loyalist or Republican on issues of constitutional concern in Northern Ireland. But one that came at this through an issue of, let us try to find a way to promote peace, stability, prosperity for people in Northern Ireland. And when you come at it from that perspective, not a political one, one rooted in community, one rooted in family, one rooted in common outlook for peace and stability. That provides an awful lot more latitude. And that has been one that I have tried to do my best to focus on. And that doesn't mean you can ignore the politics of Northern Ireland, just like you can't ignore the politics in the United States, right? You can't do that. But what you can do is try to acknowledge it and move through it such that we could do an event with our team on the ground with Jerry Adams, you know, off of the Falls Road. And later be with Jackie Redpath and on the shank, right? And be able to engage across community, right? Saying, hey, we're not going to see a divide here. But we are going to recognize the fact that the continual commitment of the people of Northern Ireland is to work through, right? Not to ignore that history, but to work, leverage the extraordinary sacrifice that so many have made to build to a place of a common future. Go ahead, Derry. All I can say, Joe, is that what you you answered my question, first of all, very well. And secondly, what you're expressing is the absolute sincerity, sincerity to keep the peace. And that's what George Mitchell did, and that's what you're doing. I commend you for it. Rob, go ahead. Yeah, Joe, in your role, what are the issues that you're focusing on right now? Obviously, you've got the Good Friday Agreement that established the framework moving forward. I've spent a fair amount of time in Northern Ireland myself. I represented the University of Maine and the University of Michigan for trade and faculty and research collaboration with Ulster and Queens. Phenomenal resources in Northern Ireland. I mean, they really are world class in terms of what they're doing. Are you working with those universities, Joe? I know your focus is economic now and trying to try to create more opportunities in Northern Ireland. Would you elaborate on that? Yeah, Mr. Baldache. So the answer to that is a bit of all of the above, right? And the opportunity here is one to acknowledge the fact that the politics in Northern Ireland are sensitive at the moment. As you well know, there hasn't been a storm out the local parliament there, has not been running now up in phone flu function in a while. So there's sensitivity to that. And to be clear, those are issues that the people of Northern Ireland in their political process have to work their way through. They do have to work their way through them. I think they are trying to work their way through them. And this is hard. This is not an easy thing to do under the best of circumstances. And there's big questions there that they have to navigate through. For those that would say this is uniquely a Northern Ireland problem, I'd point out the fact that the United States government hasn't exactly had a banner in three months here either. We didn't have a speaker for a while. That's for sure, Joe. And there's deep divisions here and there's challenges as well. So this is not something unique to Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland's experiences might be unique in themselves, but the struggles and the stresses on a democracy at the moment are not unique to Northern Ireland. What I think we can do is understand that at this moment of continue to uncertainty around a political process, reset and reframe it and go back to that which we know is true. No matter what happens in terms of who is in charge of a political process, whether government is functioning and as I say stood up and running or not. People need to have a roof over their head. They need to have food on their plate. The kids need to go to school. They need to be able to get to work. They need to be able to make a living. They need to be able to get the medical care and healthcare that they need when they need. And so there's as critical as that political stability is for long-term economic investment and it is. There's also the reality that there's a day to day inevitability that we have to confront and that people still are going to seek answers to in spite of these big questions. So how can we focus on taking care of those basic needs, making sure that there is in fact businesses and companies that are looking to meet the needs of the people of Northern Ireland and not just meet those needs, but look at this as a very attractive market. Northern Ireland is today, Belfast, as you guys know, is the safest city of its size in the entire UK. Northern Ireland is the happiest region of the entire UK. If you've got a college degree, the unemployment rate is essentially zero. It's got the highest concentration of, it's a number one destination, I should say, for cyber security investment for all of Europe. They've got very good, strong accomplishments to point to that have been earned by the people of Northern Ireland. And you point out the research institutions in Queens and also universities that are best in the class and that are cranking out extraordinarily talented graduates, which is why, by the way, you've seen that that cyber security cluster come together so well. It's because of talent. It's because the access to talent that they can get there. So there's a lot of things going for it. And I think if we just continue to focus on the politics, it would be like continuing to focus just on the politics of the United States without recognizing that, yes, we've got political issues we need to resolve. There's still good things taking place in the United States, separate apart from that process, even there's some good things happening within that process. But there's things to celebrate and recognize. Absolutely. Joe, what you say about what you want to accomplish in Northern Ireland is, of course, what we'd like to see accomplished here in the United States. I want to switch the topic only because of a time constraint. In two days ago, there was an article on the paper, Today's Kennedys Choose Other Paths to Public Service. And of course, they mentioned Robert Jr. But they also mentioned you and Kathleen and others of your family that are currently still in the public service. And I did tell you that I met Ted Kennedy in 1967. I was among the first to congratulate him on the birth of his son. And I also met Bobby Kennedy, your grandfather. I love them both. I was working for Muskie. The question I want to ask you is, I'm not going to ask you about politics, but is there any place in the world or any time that you can go where they don't know who you are? Yeah, plenty. I mean, look, I'm incredibly proud of my family and the commitment that my family has made and the contribution that we've made to public service. It's a trying time for people involved in public service for a variety of complex reasons. We don't only need to get into all of that, but it is one. Look, I think one of the blessings of my family is we have been very fortunate to have had people serve in office, to have friends that have been involved in public service. Every office except dog catcher. There's times we've needed plenty of those dog catchers. But what you have seen is you know that it can make a difference. And you know that there are people out there for whom a difference needs to be made. And part of the story that my family holds dear is our history. Our history of being an immigrant family from my father's side of the family, an immigrant family from Ireland in the time of the famine. And in almost pain and suffering and destitution and coming to the United States and not exactly being welcomed here with open arms. And so I think like many families of an Irish descent, a deep feeling of empathy because a lot of families were not able to make it through those challenges. And it was a forced migration that sent folks of Irish descent all over the world. And on the one hand, there's comfort now and that you could go almost anywhere in the world and find some connection to Ireland, but to also understand that that came out of not just fortuitousness that you can go to Southeast Asia or Australia or some places in the far flung regions of the planet and still find an Irish bar. But to know that that's there oftentimes because of a lot of pain and suffering that happened all the way. Right. And of course, Joe, those Irish bars are the best in the world, aren't they? You can find there are some things that they have in common, right? And they share and not to overplay this here, but they share that heritage. They share that sense of community. You all might have seen, there's an ad that's gone viral from over the hot for Christmas celebration of Christmas from Northern Ireland, which is interestingly enough, starts with an older gentleman that comes out of his house and goes to visit a grave site of a family member and focuses on his isolation and ends up in an Irish bar in Northern Ireland, how I should say, excuse me, but is greeted by community and is there with a coming together and a familiarity and a connection when people see each other as people, right? And not focusing on the different. When you talk about community, I think, Joe, of Northern Ireland, and having spent a little bit of time there, the Falls Road, Catholic, Schenkel, Protestant, the murals, the strife, the violence that's occurred over the years. And even today as you go, looking at that peace wall, which divides those communities physically and probably emotionally as well. I remember taking a picture of two little boys playing in their yard and in their backyard is that wall. And it's just brought to me how these people have lived through this, Joe, and hasn't gotten any better. It's been a while since I've been there, but from your perspective, how are things, that peace wall still remains, correct? There's peace walls throughout the city, but much shorter. It is a place where there's still work to do, and there's real work to do, and I don't want to minimize that because there's work to do. But when I would tell you, we just brought, President Biden asked me to bring a delegation of senior business leaders to Northern Ireland as part of the recognition and celebration of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement that Senator Mitchell would play such an entrepreneurial role in bringing to fruition. And so we had some of the primitive business leaders in the world, like President of Coca-Cola and John Murphy, the CEO of Liberty Mutual and Tim Sweeney, and Liberty Mutual has done a lot of working over the island now for decades around the Good Friday Agreement. The executives from Analog Devices and Boston Scientific and Barclays and Bank of America and a number of others, right? It was a very strong delegation. And what they saw was, yes, we took them through parts of Belfast and a historic tour so that they could see where things were, but they also got to see where things were going. And the presence that was earned at enormous costs and enormous pain, but has been earned by now generations of peace builders in Northern Ireland, building towards a future where thankfully a younger generation today can take for granted that they can go through the streets of downtown Belfast City Center and not have to walk through a magnometer, not have to go through airport-style security that they can just go shopping and enjoy, again, the safest city of its size in the entire UK. And there's still work to do. I don't want to minimize that. Right. Of course. There's work that we need to do in Boston. There's work that needs to be done in New York City. There's work that needs to be done around the United States as well. And I think the thing that I focus on here, Mr. Baldacci, is one of the highlights of this visit for me was when we were at Stormont at the invitation of Speaker Maskey. And we had a panel of highlighting some of the leaders of the Good Friday movement, to get to the Good Friday agreement. Mark Durkin from the SDLP, Lady Trimble, Mr. Trimble's Widow, I mean, Bell, Jerry Adams from Sinn Féin, and Peter Robinson of the UP. And seeing Mr. Robinson and Mr. Adams ended up seated next to each other. And it wasn't like they were there the best of friends and that's probably an undersell there. But if you recognize who you recognize who they are and who they were 30 years ago. And you think that 30 years later, they're sitting on a panel together underneath in the building of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, talking about what they went through then and how they are trying to find a way forward and build a way forward. I mean, Mr. Baldacci, I got to say it was a moment for me where I see, you know, deep division and history in Northern Ireland and folks trying to put that in their past and work forward. Where in other parts of the world, including parts of our own country, where you're trying to highlight the division rather than highlight the similar. Joe, what you say is a word that we're hearing all the time, hope, hope. And that's what George talked about when he went over there. That's what you're talking about. Your positive attitude is palpable. It's all I can say. It's obvious to me that when they look into your eyes, they see the sincerity I mentioned earlier. And let's move forward. Remember the past, but let's move forward. And I just want to commend you. And I can't think of any better person that Joe Biden could have promoted according to this position than you. I mean, I'm glad George Mitchell was busy again this time around. Joe, can you give us an estimation about how much time we've got right now on your clock? The first thing I want to say now, let Rob close this out, is that the town of the city of Derry, of course, was named after me and I'm proud of that. And I'm sure you've been there. And I tell people... It's London Derry, isn't it? But I want to thank you so much. I met Ted. I met Robert. I've now met you. And now my bucket list is complete. Rob, you can close this up. Very good, Derry. That's hard to top. Joe, thank you so much for taking the time. I know you're busy. I know you got a hell of a schedule. But it meant a lot that you were willing to take a little bit of your time to talk with us. Do you ever see a day, Joe, where Ireland, North and South, North and the Republic, will be one? Good question to close. I think, Mr. Bolachi, that is obviously ultimately a question for the people Northern Ireland and the Republic. And that process, as you well know, is outlined in the Belfast Good Friday Agreement about those prospects going forward. And I think what is so important for people of Northern Ireland at this moment, and going forward, is to know that they have a say in that. They have an agency in that. That this isn't something else like you hear from folks that were around during the troubles. And one of the hardest parts was the uncertainty, the collective trauma that people felt because you didn't know what was going to happen at these bombings in public places and the disruption and the pain and the hurt and the suffering and the loss that was felt across community. And people felt adrift from that. And what happens when you don't have a connection or feel like you can influence the outcome of something particularly in your home. And what that process articulated in that Belfast Good Friday Agreement says is this is up to the people of the island. And there's a process there for the people of the island, Northern Ireland, the Republic, to be able to make that decision if and when they want to make that decision. And so how I come at this is to say, look, my role in this as the Special Envoy for Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs is obviously not to try to influence that one way or the other. It's to do what the people of the United States have done for a long time, which is bet on the people of Northern Ireland. And say, we believe in you. We believe not just in your past. We believe in your future. We believe in the kids that you are raising. We believe in the education that they're getting. We believe in the impact that they're going to make because they already have. It's an amazing thing when you start to learn the extraordinary impact that people of Northern Ireland have had on the United States. The number of folks that hail from Northern Ireland or old Northern Ireland heritage that signed the Declaration of Independence, enormous number of them that hail from Ulster in Northern Ireland. The folks in Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles, famous road named after William Mulholland, the guy that designed the water system for LA. Oh, I didn't know that. Wow. He's from Belfast. You know where they built the Titanic? Belfast. And as they are quick to say here in Belfast, it was fine when it left there. The impact that Northern Ireland has had on the United States is extraordinary and will continue to have on the United States. And that's what motivates me largely in this role is not a vision as to where ultimately things will be, but to say the beautiful thing about a democracy is that you get a choice and you get a chance and we believe in that process. We believe in the people of Northern Ireland and we believe in you. Joe, I'm so glad you reminded us of the impact of Northern Ireland on this country. Yes. And I have no idea, my dear friend, where you're going to go in your future in terms of public service. But I sure hope you stick around because you're a breath of fresh air. Amen to that. Thank you so much, Rob. You can say goodbye. No, Joe, thanks again. Yeah. Give my best to your family and good luck and merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Thank you, my friend. To you and your family. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays, everybody. Thanks for having me. Yeah, you take care. Thank you, Joe. I have enjoyed so much this show with Rob because he has taken us to, in my opinion, a different level. It's much more fun to have a co-host and to not be political, to try to be a TV journalist. Rob, what I was so impressed with was his humility and his sincerity. Do you agree? Totally. He's just a remarkable young man. He's got an incredible future. He served with distinction in Congress. I had him up here a couple of times. Our family did. We did a couple of fundraisers for Joe. And also with his dad, who I know very, very well, Joseph II. Joseph II. Correct. But I'm thrilled that he has this opportunity to serve in Northern Ireland because I have spent some time there. Yeah. And, Rob, when you mentioned that, forgive me for forgetting you. Thank you. So you went there in an official capacity? No, I went there. Well, first of all, Senator Mitchell had, in all the work he did with the Good Friday Agreement, had encouraged me to look at the universities there. Maybe there's an opportunity for the University of Maine, specifically, to connect in Northern Ireland. We share some of the same challenges. And being, you know, remote locations, Northern Ireland at the tip of Ireland, on an island, Maine stuck into Canada. Right. So I was on the Board of Visitors for the University of Maine at the time. And I talked to, discussed it with President Hoff at the time. And he thought it was a great opportunity. So we put together a team of researchers and others. And ended up taking a week and meeting with the representatives from Alstair and Queens, both outstanding universities. And they are so far ahead of us. Really? In terms of their research and development. For the first time, I saw how universities are able to incubate business opportunities, working with family, working with faculty, working with students on campuses. These incubating facilities are located directly on the campuses, making it very easy for businesses to connect with faculty and students. And a whole wide variety, array of specialty. So that's the model that we took back with us to the University of Maine. What year was this, Robbie? Oh, it was back in the late 1990s. Okay. Right after the Peace Accord. After the Peace Accord. So we didn't have to go through any barriers in Northern Ireland. I found it to be very, very safe. Safe. I did. And then my family and I went to Northern Ireland and Ireland two years ago and had a wonderful time. Played some golf over there. Played some golf. And we had a great time. And it's, Belfast is a beautiful city. Did you get to Derry? I've been to Derry. Okay. Yes. The bloody Sunday, bloody Sunday scene when I was over there with the University of Maine. I also represented a university in Michigan as well. Central Michigan University. What? Took a group over there. And I just hoped that it would have continued after I left. And hopefully it still does. You know, Robbie, when I went over there with my daughter and again with my cousin Jill and her family, I remember making my business, being the social climate that I am, to mention the people that I ran into. I know George Mitchell. Oh, yeah. And every single time I did, the smile on their face. And this was in Southern Ireland. I wasn't in the Northern part yet. Yeah. And I just have to tell you that now I have two names I can drop. I go, yeah, Kennedy. But what I'm so impressed with is that you and George, at different times, were going over from the same family. And so did you meet people that knew him over there? Oh, God, yes. And what was the general reaction? Oh, they both, whether Catholic or Protestant, they revered George. They love him. And still to this day. And it's great to see. And I'm glad even though, you know, George, we had him on our show a few weeks ago. He made it to, brought his family to Northern Ireland for that dedication at Queens University and the speech he gave, you know, just very deep connections in the North. And I still have a lot of friends up there. One in particular, Frank Costello, who is a professor at the University of Alster. He's a noted historian and used to work with Joe Kennedy's dad as an advisor. That is when Joe was a congressman. So a lot of a lot of good connections. I love Northern Ireland and would encourage people to, if they've never been before, take the time and go. Everybody that has been there, every to a person says they like it. Even though, you know, I want to talk about those walls, these peace walls. What did they use to be? What were they? They divided the communities. You couldn't cross into one side to the other. You could at certain times of the day, but then they'd have gates that wouldn't close and lock. And who were they separating? Catholics from Protestants. Oh, my God. Forgive my ignorance on that. Because I've never been able to get my handle, my head on this. But I remember in George's book, Making Peace, he talks about the fact that when he first got there, I mean, they wouldn't even give him the time of day. No. They turned their backs to him. And yet, he still, still persisted, persisted, persisted and eventually broke the ice. But when you got there, did you see the ice? Was there still some ice? Still some coldness around there. Maybe fragments of it. But no, not like it was back in the day. And we stayed at the Europa Hotel, which was the hotel at George made a point of staying. Is that where you stayed? It was known as the most bombed hotel in Europe. What? Yes, the Europa downtown. It was the most bombed hotel in Europe, and George stayed there. He wanted to make a point of staying. That's where I'm going to stay. And actually, President Clinton did the same thing when he was over there. Now, Rob, I've never asked George this, but I'm asking you. I never thought about it. Did he have a ton of security around him? Oh, I'm sure he had some security. Of course. And he's staying in that hotel. That's a target. Yeah, absolutely. I didn't realize it was him. But he wanted to basically demonstrate that, you know, we're here for peace. And so he put himself on the line, literally, when he stayed there and made a statement, made a huge statement to the people of Northern Ireland. As we talk about Joe Kennedy and George, the one question I have of you, we both know that George went to the Middle East. Yes. And he went over there in the hopes of bringing some peace. The question I ask of you and the crystal ball, do you think that if George had made even a centel of a difference that what we're watching now on front page news, the worst thing is this stuff that's going on in Israel and the Gaza strip. Do you think he could have made a difference in that? Do you think that this this thing could have been prevented by? Yeah, without a question. If they listened to him, he tried. He spent an incredible amount of time meeting with all the leaders, Egypt, Palestine, Israel, met with Netanyahu. He met with Assad in Syria, countless trips, and very frustrating. It's the animosity. You know, you're talking thousands and thousands of years. That's right. animosity and hatred that he was trying to overcome. So, yeah, I mean, he put forth a set of principles called Mitchell principles to establish a two state solution in Israel and Palestine, which needs to happen. And it's just horrible what's going on today. And but, yes, to answer your question, I think George would have made a hell of a difference. And what amazes me, folks, is that this man, as is Joe right now, put himself in danger without any question. First of all, just flying back back and forth from these planes and having to go to hotels and folks, you have no idea what it's the trouble that this man went through, not being away from his family, same with Joe, to try to accomplish something as big as peace in two of the most volatile places on the face of the earth. And I'm not sure that people here in Maine recognize the incredible effort that that man put in working not 24 hours a day, but 36 hours a day. Rob, I want to commend you on getting this interview. Folks, as we say goodbye on this show, I want to tell you that my friend Rob is going to take the show to a whole different level. We've got some people lined up that we think you're going to enjoy. And what I enjoy most, Rob, is that you seem to have a connection to everyone. It's not the six degrees of Kevin. Almost as many as you do. It's the one degree of separation from Rob Baldacci. Thank you very much for watching in the Ronald and Baldacci report. Thank you. And we'll see you next time. Thank you.